Short Story: Finding the Elusive by Vipul Lunia

Vipul Lunia’s short story reminds you to practice mindfulness, live in the present moment and to never give up looking for the elusive

Avni, with her head leaning against the train window, saw so many faces as passing images. Each with an untold story and a song, waiting to be heard. An Oriental Pied hornbill flew by, as the train sped through the jungle of Rajaji in hot pursuit to reach Dehradun. She got down at Dehradun station to a bone-chilling cold that put a welcome smile on her face. She had in her just as much love for foothills as she had for hills. 

Outside, Dehradun was dressed in foggy white, with frills of fog cascading from the unseen sky above to her barely visible-numb feet. The world, beyond the point where she was standing, was invisible. Hushing sounds of fellow travelers, shouts of vendors selling their wares, whirring of autos, interspersed with the polite lady announcing the arrival and departures of the train were more than making up for what was not visible. But the void of even 2-3 seconds, where every sound stopped simultaneously, made her long for the mountains. As she was nearing her destination, her longing to go and just grab it, amplified. “Just a couple of hours more,” she consoled herself.